The Unexpected Gale
by Eragen
Summary: She was a storm, an unstoppable force which drew him in. Perhaps he was unwilling; perhaps he was unwitting. In the end, everyone has to face the truth.


Chitoge was a storm. A whirlpool of thunder and lightning, her violent entry into his life was unexpected and instantaneous. She was a flash flood, an unstoppable force of nature, a primordial being who latched on and never, ever, let go. She was the knight in shining armor, the proud bastion who always led him by the hand, dragging him, exasperated, through the fields of heaven and hell. A gorilla girl, her strength was mighty and unconquerable, both physically, but more importantly, in personality.

Chitoge was gentle. She was the leaf in the wind, the red crimson magenta autumn leaf tenderly pinching onto the tree with her last strand of twig. She was the freshly-landed-snowflake-white rose, glimmering in her brilliance, the morning dew wistfully departing her sparkling leaves, not even a slight residue of dirt daring to tarnish her magnificence. She was the lonely daffodil at the peak of a joyous hill, almost smothered by the unkempt grass threatening to hide her, but somehow, some way, able to be victoriously smug in her eye-catching mystical beauty.

Chitoge was the shimmering blue of the mischievous tide drawing you away from sure, dangerous but calming and reassuring you that you would be safe in its caress, undeniable and irresistible, hidden behind the twinkling of her morning-blue eyes. She was the light brushes of turquoise, the reflections of the tender strokes of violet which sometimes spilled across the sky, countless stars beheld within her curious labyrinthine gaze. She was the sun-stained strands of gold hair, rippling in the light breeze of spring, the cheery promise of new life and new beginnings.

She was beautiful, and Raku could not believe that he had been blind for so long. There were no other terms to describe Chitoge, as he, ignorant and deaf and blind to earth but absolutely focused on _his_ world, on _Chitoge_, gazed across the half-body-width separating them, drowning in the harsh beams of the moon, round and full and watching in the horizonless sky, the dock the edge of all things earthly it seemed, as the stars delighted in their waltzes in the mirroring ocean, the sea rising seamlessly to embrace, as though welded without a joint, the dipping heavens. Chitoge was not cute; she had too much serenity. She was not hot; she had too much elegance. She was not sultry, nor pretty, nor sweet, but rather unadulterated abstract unfathomable beauty indescribable in its purity.

Chitoge turned, and murmured, lips rounding meticulously yet so carelessly, and as the words carried across the eternity of their met gaze, Raku could not help but sigh as his heart wrenched agonizingly satisfyingly.

"I love you."

Chitoge was not perfect. Raku had discovered that with every violent undeserved punch, every cathartic barb, every messy slurp of ramen, every cruelly playful request to go on the most loopy of rides (truly, she was the loopy one for enjoying them), each shudder as the world roared with thunder, each tremor as the skies split with the fury of the heavens.

Raku was dense, and he knew this. Chitage knew this too, and he could not help but feel a little betrayed each time Chitage decided to refuse to communicate to him her emotions, her feelings. Yet each time his frustration threatened to bubble out of his lukewarm cauldron, she would throw him a playful wink; enticing, a hint, but not quite a promise, that all was well, and his heart would quell, and his lips would involuntarily lift into his smile. He could not blame Chitage either, for her insecurities were not trifling, her pains no less real than his, her psyche no less conflicted than anyone else. She was a hedgehog through and through; she desired the warmth of companionship, desired both the blood of the covenant and the water of the womb. She was courageous, able to boisterously and outlandishly and brashly and recklessly and so, so fantastically charge headfirst into danger to help others, even at the cost of her own safety and happiness; yet, she was simultaneously afraid to let anyone close, fearful of taking the plunge and risking it all.

That is why, when the sun rose to their right, impatiently peeking at the scene, the heavens enraptured by Chitoge's sashaying ribbon and swaying hair, and she made her declaration for the first time, Raku stood silent, not because he had nothing to say, but because he was overwhelmed by her bravery, by her courage to overcome her fears and risk rejection and finally, _finally_ let him in, overwhelmed by her absolute beauty and his love. When her tears glimmered as they fell from her tragic beautiful hurting fearful eyes and she turned so wild and uncontrolled and dignified, her voice cracking as she knew she had won his heart:

"Raku, I love you. I love you so much."

The winds triumphantly presented these words to him, bowing down as the queen of his heart grabbed her thrall and never, ever let go. Even as he, relieved, embraced her (he was hers! _he _was _hers!_) he dared not close his eyes lest she be a mere apparition.

He existed and lived and joy and happiness and the greatest moment of his life; because of her.

When she drew back and announced that she could not return to Bayuri high and left chasing her dreams (not _him_) and left him with nothing but a promise he was cold and missing her already, even as he still beheld her in his gaze. He could not bear to lose her, not now, not ever; but especially not when he had just found her.

But if she was brave for him, then he would be brave for her, and wait. Such was love; one chasing, another waiting, an everlasting promise of optimism and hope and eternal happiness.

So his smile, perhaps less whole and less substantial and less happy, but present nonetheless, was unwavering. He would wait for her, forever and ever and ever; until he could be by her side again.

It was after that tumultuous year, after he had graduated, that he finally met her again.

On that dock, facing into the West, Raku had found her again, and she had turned, the maelstroms of her eyes drawing him in endlessly.

"Raku, do you still love me?"

She was more patient now, and this time, Raku's silence did not perturb her. She knew that Raku's breath had caught, that his heart was painfully – in love! – with her.

What else could Raku have said?

"Chitoge, I love you."

"Now, and forever."


End file.
